CHAPTER 3
Napalm Re-Death
Or
How to Handle the Backlash of an International Bio-Terrorism Epidemic with Simple Items that You, by a Set of Strange and Unusual Coincidences, May Just Happen to Have Lying Around the House (Excluding Saran Wrap)
◊
The group had moved into a large science classroom on the second floor of the classrooms. The original proposed plan was to move into the cafeteria where it was a bit more spacious, but the piles upon piles of dead bodies amongst the pools of blood made it a rather uncomfortable place to make camp. They had gathered around the radio placed on the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom. Some amongst them who had not had the time to eat lunch were snacking on sandwiches which they had taken from the cafeteria only minutes earlier.
They had decided to leave it on the news. It wasn't exactly appropriate for eating lunch to, especially since the topic of the day just happened to be the disgusting creatures outside who had just killed two police officers, but they didn't want to miss anything that would be important.
Jeremy, who still wasn't very hungry due to all of the things he had seen in the past couple of hours, sat close to the radio, which was turned to medium volume. Jeremy was eagerly awaiting news on a possible extraction from the school or some other faint gleam of hope to get him out of this classroom fortress and, possibly, to somewhere he could contact Aelita.
For the past few minutes, it had been nothing but an interview with someone from the CDC in regards to the incident and the announcer repeating himself. "Reports of strange assailants. Do not engage. Stay inside. Et cetera." A rustle of papers came through the radio as the announcer on the other side began reading off of what he was just handed.
"We've just got this in," he announced as he began to read the papers, "Here we have a following list of proven methods of how to properly demobilize these attackers."
"Everyone, be quiet!" Jeremy spoke loudly as he turned up the volume to drown out the sound of crunching chips and small chit-chat. The radio announcer continued.
"The first proven method of demobilization is by causing serious amounts of physical damage to the brain."
"No kidding." Odd commented as he stared at Sissy. Jeremy gestured to Odd to be quiet. The announcer resumed.
"This can be done by the usage of a truncheon or a firearm. The second method is decapitation. Some reports have claimed that even though the assailants still show signs of brain activity after decapitation, it will, however, prevent mobilization. The third method is by inducing a massive electric surge through the assailants bodies. Please note that tasers and stun guns have proven ineffective. Again, tasers and stun guns are ineffective. And lastly, by complete incineration, meaning burning the assailants to a point of demobilization."
"Incineration…" Herb spoke quietly to himself.
"However," the announcer continued, "French officials are still urging citizens to not attempt to confront the assailants. This is only for reference to those who may need to take action against them in the case of the event that they are in significant danger and unable to contact an officer."
"Like us." Yumi spoke.
"Too bad we can't use any of the information." Nicholas added.
"Yeah," Odd said interrupting, "It's not like they're going to line up and let us beat the snot out of them."
"What about the electrocution?" Sissy implied.
"And exactly how are we going to pull that off?" Jeremy commented, "Build a giant bathtub, lure them in it and toss in a toaster? Get serious."
"We could incinerate them." Herb added. Everyone paused for a moment and stared at Herb.
"With what Herb?" Ulrich replied, "Are we going to hold a magnifying glass under each and every one of them until they fry like ants? Good plan Herb. That'll only take the remainder of our natural lives."
"No, not like that." Herb shot back, "I'm talking about napalm."
Everyone continued to stare at Herb, trying their best to process the absurdity of what he just said to them.
"What the Hell are you talking about Herb?!" Odd shouted.
"I'm sorry Herb, but Odd's right." Yumi added, "How exactly are we supposed to get our hands on enough napalm to kill those things outside?"
"No," Herb continued, "I'm talking about making napalm."
Again, everyone was quiet.
"Go on." Jeremy said.
"You can make homemade napalm by mixing equal parts orange juice concentrate and gasoline, amongst other things."
"Really?" Nicholas asked.
"Yeah. I think we can get all those things right here in the classrooms if we look hard enough!"
A moment of silence came between the group as they processed Herb's plan. It seemed a little absurd and possibly doomed to fail, but there were no other proposed ideas that seemed legit and effective.
"Well, it's worth a shot." Yumi said.
"Good!" Herb said smiling. "There should be some supplies in the basement and perhaps some orange juice concentrate in the kitchen!"
"Then it's settled," Yumi proclaimed, getting to her feet, "Herb, Ulrich, Nicholas, Jeremy, you four go to the basement and get what you need there. Me and Odd will head to the kitchen and get what we need. Sissy, you stay here and try to see if you can get in contact with anyone on your cell phone."
Sissy nodded her head in compliance.
"Don't forget to take your weapon with you everyone," Yumi added just before they all left, "Just in case."
◊
"Equal parts gasoline and equal parts orange juice concentrate, huh?" Ulrich said.
"That's right." Herb responded.
The entire group was on the second floor. They had already passed the blood-splattered lobby and were approaching the entrance to the basement.
"Where do you get this stuff from?" Jeremy asked Herb.
"Books." Herb replied vaguely.
"What kind of books, Herb?" Jeremy asked, curiously questioning Herb.
"Just books."
"What a load of crap." Ulrich said with a hint of frustration, "You're holding back on us."
Herb stopped walking so he could turn to face Ulrich. "Look, I rather not go through all the dirty details. Let's just leave it at 'I read it somewhere and I know it for a fact'." Herb turned to face the hallway and began walking. "End of story…"
"What's next?" Jeremy added, "Grenades made out of socks?"
"Why," Herb responded smiling indifferently, "You want some sock grenades too?"
Nicholas, Jeremy, and Ulrich stopped and looked at each other for a moment as Herb continued walking. Herb finally came to a door near the end of the hall.
"Here we are guys," Herb yelled back at the group cheerfully, "Let's get that equipment!"
Herb opened the door and looked-down the staircase only to find a pool of water about two and a half feet deep.
"What the Hell?!" Herb yelled.
The rest of the group clenched their bats and ran towards Herb, expecting the worse.
"What is it Herb?" Ulrich asked as he approached Herb.
"It's the basement!" Herb answered, still staring in disbelief, "It's flooding!"
Everyone gathered behind Herb to see for themselves. Sure enough, the basement was filled with water and, if you listened closely, you could hear water spraying a good distance down the hall.
"Sweet Jesus!" Nicholas said, "How'd this happen?"
"Think this may have something to do with those zombies outside?" Ulrich asked the group.
"Don't know," Jeremy answered, "But what I do know is that we need to go ahead and get whatever we need out of here before the entire basement floods."
"Good point," Ulrich added. "Let's get ready."
Ulrich took off his socks and shoes and began rolling up his pants legs. Everyone noticed and did the same. Leaving their footwear at the top of the stairs, the four boys descended into the basement.
"Jesus it's cold!" Herb complained as he set foot into the freezing water.
"Hey, this was your idea." Ulrich responded, "So keep your complaints to yourself."
"Watch your step everyone," Jeremy requested, "There might be broken glass at the bottom for all we know, so step lightly."
"It's so damn cold down here, I don't think my numb feet would be able to feel it if I stepped on anything!" Nicholas commented.
"No joke." Herb added.
While wallowing through the cold water, Ulrich caught a glimpse of something at the end of the corridor, "Hey, what's that over there?"
"Dunno." Nicholas responded, noticing the same pipe, "Let's check it out."
The kids goose-waddled their way through the numbingly cold water and towards the direction of the broken pipe, admiring, for a moment, the large axe still embedded in the gash where the water was spewing from.
"Damn," Nicholas said, "Now that's what I call a blatant act of vandalism."
"Looks like someone had a serious issue with the plumbing." Jeremy added.
"Well, I don't know what happened here, but I think it would be best if we got what we came for and get out of here before things gets worse." Ulrich added.
Everyone agreed and began searching through the water for any useful materials they could use for the napalm.
"Hey!" Herb exclaimed, "I think I found something!"
Everyone turned to Herb, who, from the cold water, picked up two canisters of gasoline.
"There's more here." Herb added. "Let's get all that we can."
Everyone gathered around Herb and picked up numerous cans of gasoline, paint, buckets for mixing, and other materials for the napalm.
"Alright, that's all we need." Ulrich said grabbing the last mixing material.
"I think that's about all we can carry." Nicholas added, making room in a bucket he was carrying for all his materials.
"Good," Jeremy responded, "Now let's get out of here before we all catch hypothermia."
The boys waddled back to the entrance with all their materials, leaving the axe embedded in the pipe still untouched.
◊
"Dammit!" Sissy hissed to herself as she ended her call, "Why won't anyone pick up!?"
Sissy had been trying to contact just about everyone she could think of. Police, hospitals, and just recently, her own father. Though disgruntled, she understood the turmoil that the officials were going through outside, but not being able to get in touch with her father was driving her insane. If it was just a busy signal, then it would have been fine, but that wasn't the case. The call was getting through alright, but no one on the other side was answering. Sissy didn't want to consider what was probably inevitable.
A knock came on the door and Yumi's voice came through.
"Sissy, it's me and Odd. We're back and our hands are full. Open up."
Sissy set her phone back on the counter and headed to the door opening it up for the two of them who were carrying gallons upon gallons of the frozen juice.
"Thanks Sissy." Yumi said as she and Odd walked into the room and placed the stuff on the tables.
"Good thing we found this stuff," Odd grunted placing the concentrate on the table next to Yumi's, "I hope Herb and the rest have been having good luck finding their materials."
"Someone call?" Herb said smiling as he and the rest came through the door with the buckets of additional materials.
"Hey!" Odd exclaimed smiling, "Looks like you lucked out."
"Yeah." Ulrich said placing the heavy buckets on the floor, "Good thing we got back when we did; my arms felt like they were getting ready to fall off."
"You guys got the orange juice concentrate?" Nicholas asked.
Odd smiled and placed his hand on top of the jugs of the stuff he and Yumi just hauled from downstairs.
"I don't know Nicholas," Odd replied sarcastically, "Does it look like we found it."
Everyone shared a brief laugh for a moment. When it died down, Jeremy changed the subject.
"The basement is flooding."
This caught both Yumi, Odd, and Sissy's attention as they stared at Jeremy sternly.
"The basement is what?" Yumi asked.
"The basement, it's flooding." Jeremy repeated, pushing his glasses back onto his face.
"Yeah," Herb added, "Someone took an axe and tried to break the water pipe in basement open."
"And judging from the looks of it," Ulrich said finishing Herb's sentence, "It looks like they succeeded."
"It's only about knee deep down there." Jeremy explained, "So I'd say it happened only a few hours ago."
"Perhaps some was just going for one of the zombies and missed?" Odd asked trying his best to understand the situation.
"I don't think so." Herb answered, "We didn't see any zombies or dead bodies down there."
"So it happened before the zombies took over?" Yumi asked.
"Who cares?!" Sissy had grown tired of the conversation, "We got all the materials, so lets get started on that napalm."
"Sissy's right." Ulrich commented, "The sooner we kill those things outside, the sooner we can get to safety."
"Let's head to the roof.", Herb suggested, "There's probably going to be some fumes to it would be better to make it up there so that it'll ventilate better."
"Good thing we picked these up from the janitor's closet." Odd said pulling out a box of paper masks from his back pocket and passing them to Jeremy.
"Oh yeah," Jeremy replied smiling, "These will definitely help."
"Alright everyone," Yumi commanded, "Let's get to the roof."
Everyone grabbed a bucket or jug as Herb went for the radio. Once by one, they headed out the door with the materials. Herb, being the last one out, made sure to turn off the lights on his way out.
◊
"Any answers yet?" Milly asked.
"No," Tamiya answered, "And my battery is running low."
Both girls were hiding out in a stall in the girl's restroom, away from where the other zombies roaming around in the dormitories were. Like Sissy, they had been trying to reach someone outside that could help them, but their efforts were fruitless.
"We need to get out of here." Tamiya continued, "I need to recharge my phone."
"I know," Milly said agreeing, "And I'm starving. We need food."
"Well, then; what do you propose we do?"
Both knew the only answer to that question, they just didn't want to come to terms with it. In order to reach Tamiya's charger or food, they we're going to have to go outside and head there by foot. Both stared at each other for a moment, coming to terms with what had to be done in order to escape.
"I'll go check outside." Milly whispered to Tamiya.
"B-Be careful."
Milly tip-toed over to the door. With shaking hands, she slowly pushed the door open and looked down the hallway, which was vacant. She looked the other way, again, to find the hall vacant. Moans and hisses echoed through the halls from where some of the other zombies were. Milly, after surveying the empty halls, closed the door and quickly crept over to Tamiya.
"It's clear out there. I think we can make it to our room if we do it quickly and quietly."
"A-are you sure?"
"We don't have a choice. We can't lock this place. If they don't come in here and kill us, we'll starve to death first."
Tamiya was quiet for a moment as she tried to regain her composure. "All right. Let's do this."
Still clenching her cell phone Tamiya walked behind Milly as they headed out of the restroom. They're legs still clicking together as they did. As they crept down the hall, they had to stop many times to regain their balance. Their shaking legs almost caused them to trip and fall at many times. Almost halfway down the hall, Tamiya asked Milly to stop.
"Milly, I don't know if I can make it. I'm too scared."
Milly turned to Tamiya and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't worry, we're almost there. Once we're there, we can get your cha…"
A zombie slammed himself against the glass window of a door that the two girls were leaning against. Noticing them, he let out a loud hiss, scaring the girls. Both girls quickly dove into the room across the hall from them and quickly locked the door. The zombie outside busted through the glass window, followed about by a dozen other of his kind. They began slamming their fists against the hard, wooden door, that Milly and Tamiya were locked behind, screeching at the two terrified girls behind it.
"We shouldn't have left the bathroom!" Tamiya panicked.
Milly looked at Tamiya and noticed that her hands were empty. "Tamiya, where's your phone?!"
Tamiya checked her hands and then all her pockets. "I must have dropped it outside when that guy scared us! No! We can't go back out there to get it! Those things'll kill us!"
"Don't worry Tamiya," Milly said placing her hand on her shoulder, "The door's locked. We're safe in here for the meantime."
The zombies outside the room began pushing themselves on the heavy door, letting out a light creaking noise.
◊
"How's it coming guys?" Yumi yelled out to the boys who were mixing and preparing the napalm over on the back side of the room. Everyone was now on the roof, camping out as Herb and the rest prepared the incendiary weapon. Each had paper masks strapped to their face to keep them from inhaling too much of the gasoline fumes.
"We're almost ready." Ulrich answered, lifting his head from his mixing bucket, "Just a few more moments."
"Alright," Yumi responded. She turned to Sissy who was sitting down and attempting to call her father. "Sissy, gotten through to anyone yet?"
Sissy didn't respond. She was rocking in place, frightened out of her mind with her phone pressed against her ear. Yumi reached out and shook Sissy's shoulder. Sissy jumped and turned to Yumi.
"Sissy!" Yumi repeated, "Have you gotten through to anyone yet?"
Sissy shook her head no and focused her attention back onto her phone call.
"Who are you trying to call Sissy?" Yumi asked. No response. "It's your father isn't it?!"
Again, Sissy gave no response. She didn't have to, Yumi had already figured it out.
"Dammit Sissy!" Yumi yelled, "I thought we agreed to focus our calls on the police!"
"We can't get through to the police!" Sissy yelled back getting to her feet, "It's useless! Their lines are all busy and when I do get through, no one ever responds!"
"No one's responding over at your Dad's phone either Sissy! Your father is second priority! We need to get in touch with the police!"
"Why?! So they can just get killed like those last two were? Oh yeah, that was really helpful. My knights in shining armor!"
"And what exactly can your Dad give us that the police can't? For all we know, your pops is dead!"
"Don't say that!" Sissy dropped her phone and balled-up her fists, preparing to knock Yumi's lights out. Ulrich wedged himself between the two girls, attempting to break-up an ugly situation.
"Sissy, sit back down and try to call the police." Ulrich turned to Yumi as the agitated Sissy sat back down on the gravel, reached for her phone and resumed her attempts, "Yumi, we can't afford to agitate anyone. The only way we're going to get through this is if we pull together. So let's try not to self-destruct here alright?"
Yumi was feeling both embarrassed and enraged. She had just realized the error of what she had done, but Sissy's insubordination and aggressive attitude was really burning her ass and she wasn't going to take it. Not from Sissy, not from anyone.
"Equal parts orange juice concentrate and gasoline," Odd said to himself mixing the ingredients, "Who would of thought."
"Oh yeah," Herb replied, looking up at Odd, "You can make all sorts of dangerous weapons with stuff lying around your house."
"Wow," Odd said laughing, "You're like the Martha Stewart of weapons of mass destruction."
Herb laughed and picked up the bucket of the explosive goo. "Equal parts gasoline and orange juice makes for an ideal incendiary weapon for disposing of flesh-eating zombies. It's a good thing."
Both of them laughed loudly at the joke. Ulrich broke it up between them.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"Oh, me and Herb was just making light of the situation."
"Is that stuff ready yet?"
"Sure is." Herb said standing back up and stretching his back, "Let's get ready to try this stuff out."
Everyone picked up the heavy buckets and placed them at the side of the roof facing the courtyard.
"Now what?" Nicholas asked.
"We need to get them over here so that we can dump this stuff on them." Herb answered.
"How are we going to d…"
"HEY! YEAH! I'M TALKING TO YOU UGLY! UP HERE!" Odd cut Nicholas off and began yelling at the zombies down in the courtyard.
"What the Hell are you doing Odd?" Ulrich questioned.
"Getting their attention; what does it look like?" Odd continued to taunt the zombies, "WHAT ARE YOU, DEAF TOO? GET'CHER ASSES OVER HERE!"
A good portion of the zombies began to turn towards the school and dragged themselves over the walls.
"Hey!" Sissy exclaimed, "Its working!"
"C'mon everyone," Yumi said turning to the rest of the group, "Let's get their attention."
Everyone on the roof began shouting at the masses of undead in the courtyard. A decent fraction of them approached the school and began accumulating in a small, groaning band of ghouls.
"Alright," Jeremy said stopping the shouting, "That'll be enough to administer the test. Let's dump some of this crap."
Nicholas and Odd grabbed a large bucket and proceed to dump the brownish slime on top of the zombies. The creatures hissed in agitation of being doused with the dangerous cocktail, but continued their efforts of clawing at the wall.
"Alright," Odd said placing the empty bucket on the gravel, "Now what?"
"Simple," Herb proudly responded, "We ignite it."
A deafening silence came over the group. All that could be heard was the moaning and hissing of the agitated creatures below.
"With what Herb?!" Sissy shouted.
"Well, um, with…"
"Did anyone bring a lighter?" Yumi asked. No response.
"Some matches? Anything?" Still, no response.
"Way to go Herb!" Sissy shouted, "What's your next plan; build a helicopter out of cardboard?! We could probably fly it out of here if we didn't waste all the gasoline on all of this goddamn napalm!"
Yumi placed her hand on her forehead, trying to suppress her urges to join Sissy in her chewing-out of Herb. Nicholas stepped in and tried to calm her down.
"Don't worry Sissy. We'll find something to set it off."
"Hey," Ulrich said breaking-up the silence between them, "Anyone else hear that?"
"Hear what?!" Sissy shouted at Ulrich.
"Shut up!" he commanded, "There it is again!"
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Beyond the sound of zombies down in the courtyard, the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.
"The police?!" Yumi said hopefully.
"Ha! Looks like we didn't even need this napalm stuff!" Odd said smiling.
Two large armored cars rolled into the school courtyard being trailed by another, and equally large group of zombies were running at their fullest speed behind them. Some of the more eager ones amongst them were actually grabbing onto the back bumpers of the cars as they were dragged on the gravel road. The two large vehicles came to a stop well inside the courtyard. From each, four heavily armed men in riot gear emerged and formed a firing line in front of the zombies at the side of the school. The same zombies that had just got the napalm dumped on them moments ago. The creatures quickly took notice and began jogging towards the officers.
"Remember, you need to aim for the head men!" One of the officers yelled, "So make sure to line-up your shots!"
"They're going to open fire on them!" Jeremy said.
"No!" Herb yelled to himself, "They're covered in napalm! At that distance, they'll…!"
There wasn't enough time for Herb to warn them. The commander gave the order to open fire as the creatures were only a few feet from them. The bullets ignited the slime. As one zombie exploded violently, so did the ones next to him and so forth. The force of the violent discharge sent many of the zombies in the back of the group flying backwards, as their charred bodies got embedded into the brick wall. Many of the officers were too close and were incinerated in explosion. The kids from the roof stared in disbelief at the halfway backfiring of their plan.
"Well," Odd commented, "At least we know that the napalm works."
"What in the Hell?!" the commander yelled, "What just happened?!"
Only a few of his men heard him. Most of them we either already dead or were completely doused in flames, preparing to die.
"Retreat!" the commander yelled.
The commander and one of the men got into one of the armored cars. The commander took shotgun as the other officer went for the wheel. As he reached out to close the door, a zombie pounced on him and took a chunk out of his arm. Overwhelmed with pain, he slammed down on the accelerator as the car sped-up, slamming into a metal light post. Though the car was still in tact, the two men inside, not wearing their seatbelts, were flung forward, smashing their skulls onto the windshield, killing them instantly. The starving creatures reached into the car, pulled the dead men out of the vehicles, and immediately began devouring their flesh.
The last surviving officer went for the other armored car. He quickly hopped into the vehicle, locked the doors, and shifted the car into reverse. What he failed to do, however, was notice the zombie that made his way into the back of the vehicle during the confusion. He approached the man from behind and sunk his teeth deep into the side of his neck. The officer slammed down on the gas as the armored car fishtailed backwards towards the school.
"What the Hell is he doing?!" Sissy panicked.
The armored car sped up and slammed itself into the front entrance. The force of the blow knocked the officer unconscious and sent the zombie flying through the windshield. The crash sent a shockwave throughout the entire school all the way up to the roof, causing the kids to quake in place. The armored car was perfectly wedged into the hallway so that it completely replaced the doors which were now lying shattered on the ground in the still bloody hallway. The back of the car was placed perfectly so that it still prevented any of the creatures outside from getting into the school.
The kids upstairs quickly armed themselves and made their way down to the first floor. They stood there for a moment surveying the damage, waddling in the pool of blood and broken glass. Some of the water from the basement was beginning to flow upstairs into the lobby, washing away some of the blood.
"Yup," Odd commented, "That stuff definitely works."